The Sapphire Dragon and the White Wolf
by BellatrixLestrangey
Summary: Sokka is a wolf and Azula is a dragon, the pair try to find a way to make it work.


Sokka was a daring wolf with fur of silvery-white. Fur that hosted deep blue swirling lines, marking him as one of the water clan wolves. He was far from home, with a meal on his mind. It had been a day or so since he'd come across a healthy helping of deer-fox. He'd had many shots before but found himself distracted by other forest noises and curiosities. Katara, though he was always the better hunter, kept him on track. Had he taken her along with him, he might have gotten somewhere. This line of thinking always led him to trouble.

This time it had led him to the a place where he wasn't the hunter but instead, the hunted.

It had happened before but never had he been hunted by a dragon. She, he believed the dragon was female anyhow, had scales in a blue so sharp and shimmery that the water clan would be jealous. She lands in front of him and slashes her claws. He was hard pressed to get out of the way on time. Another slash, this one coming even closer. Before he could even begin to gather himself, she went in for another strike this time with her tail. And this one nicked his side.

All he wanted was a good tasty sabertooth moose-lion, and now he was fighting a powerful fire clan dragon. He mustered up the courage to make a snap at her. His teeth clamped on her tail, leaving his mouth bleeding. Her scales were mercilessly hard and with a razor blade texture. He flinched back, understanding in full how the fire clan managed to wipe out the air nation avians. He was a goner for sure. Unless he could, of course, outrun her. But that wasn't likely as she had wings and he did not. If only he could make it to the treeline. He edged backwards and towards it. Again, the sapphire dragon lashed her tail at him, he took it as an opportunity to leap faster and closer to the trees. It was a working plan, at least until the dragon seemed to catch on. She put a halt on her attacks and seemed to study him. Or maybe she was preparing to send a stream of fire his way. He wouldn't give her the chance, rather he hadn't planned to. He was ready for a mad dash into the woodland when a clawed arm snatched him up. She held him level to her eyes. He'd never felt fear to this magnitude before. This dragon was massive, with teeth the size of his paws-he liked to think that he had rather large paws too. But they were useless against her armor of scales, he began to think that they were truly sapphire in make.

Her voice flowed into his mind, _you're far from home, wolf._

He wanted to reply with a quick, "no kidding," he had to take special care not to think it with her mind touching his. Instead he thought, _I have to get food for my clan, food is hard to come by in the water clans so I'm visiting the earth clans._

The dragon clawed at the ground with her free talons. _I didn't ask for your life story, wolf._

With no response at the ready he decide to question the dragon instead, the suspense, after all, was killing him, _why aren't you killing me?_

The dragon tapped those long, startling claws against the ground. _You intrigue me. I haven't encountered a wolf before._ Like that he was on the ground once again, tail tucked between his legs, ears flat against his head. _Don't look so scared wolf, if I wanted you so, you would have been a smoldering carcass a few minutes past_. That comforted him just about as well a storm cloud with no shelter in sight.

 _What is it like to be a wolf?_

 _What is it like to be a dragon?_ He returned the question.

 _Powerful_.

Powerful, the answer made sense to him. Intense also came to mind when he imagined what it would be like to be a dragon. She asked her question again and this time he answered, _its an adventure you get to see the forest in every season and it smells wonderful. Lots of good food._

 _Sounds painfully simple,_ the dragon replied. _I don't like simple_.

 **.oOo.**

This need to keep things anything but simple is what kept her attached to the wolf. There was nothing less simple than a fire clan dragon befriending a water clan wolf. Surely that would add an extra kick to her life. But she didn't want a kick as strong as the one she had recieved. She hadn't meant to fall in love with the wolf.

How could a dragon possibly be with a wolf. She couldn't see that working out. The wolf, she had come to know as Sokka, was more optimistic, spinning tales of a place in the deep woods where spirits bestowed gifts and worked wonders. There was a fight over who would be undergoing the transformation. She thought that he ought to give in and become a dragon-a strange water dragon-but a dragon no less. He insisted that it would be more practical for her to become a fire wolf. She fancied the idea even less than living a simple life.

Even so she doubted that it was possible to do either one and was counting on sending the wolf on his way and returning to her own lair with the other dragons.

She curled herself up and tried to get some sleep, but it kept her awake to think that there would soon be a time when she and Sokka would part ways.

If she stayed with him any longer she would lead him to his demise, she could seen her father taking kindly to her wolf companion.

The forest was hard for her to navigate. Sokka was small and weaved between the trees with little ease. It left her feeling terribly envious. She need open skies, room to unfural her wings to the fullest. In the sky she was elegant and graceful. In the forest there were so many things to slam into or to snag her spines and scales on. The amount of smaller trees she had knocked over was sure to cause a fuss of some sort, even if her intent had been to avoid touching the trees at all.

Azula's relief when Sokka announced that they had arrived at the right pond was unmatched. Yet she didn't see any sign of a spirit or any magic at all. _Where are they, wolf?_

 _You have to wait until the moon is up._

She hated waiting on something that didn't seem worth being patient for. Something she was so skeptical of. At last the moon poured its rays into the pond. And in those silver glittering beams danced a cloud of spirit smoke.

"Why have you come here?" Inquired one of the shapless spirit puffs.

As Sokka gave his answer- _it would be awesome if you could turn her into a wolf, like me_ -the mist began to take shape. It looked like the humans Azula had only spied from a distance, but with translucent skin and spiderweb hair. Pointed, gilled ears, and webbed fingers completed the other worldly sight.

 _Acutally, we were hoping to turn him into a dragon,_ Azula corrected.

"We can do neither." The being replied in that airy, tinkling voice.

So it was a helpless case after all, Azula mused to herself. She had stumbled clumsily through that forest for nothing.

"But we can do something else." The spirit replied. "Step into the water."

Such was an action Azula liked to avoid, but Sokka darted right in. She would be damned if she let a wolf outdo her in feats of bravery. So with a teeth-bearing snarl she dipped her first claw in. Time in the water seemed to flow differently. Physics seemed to be out of the question all together; this water, this spirit water, seemed to be liquid and air all at once. It had its own energy as it flowed around her and lulled her to sleep. She couldn't see the wolf, but there was an inexplicable sense that everything would be alright as long as she shut her eyes.

 **.oOo.**

The sun emerged and with it, two figures; a man with deep coppery skin and even deeper blue eyes. And a woman with golden eyes and skin more ivory in hue. Silky long hair clung to her wet skin. She was tired, and had barely mannaged a few feet before collapsing at the man's side. Her transformation came with the knowlege of walking on two legs and the knowlege to communicat through physical speech. It did not come with the energy to do so. Sokka had just about as much energy as she, and settled for grasping her hand. Her talonless hand. She shivered. Sokka was supposed to be a dragon.

She was supposed to be a dragon.

Azula felt so fragial in this foreign body.

She supposed that such was he price of getting herself tangled up in some sort of forbidden romance.


End file.
